The present invention relates generally to dumbbells for weight lifting, and more particularly to a dumbbell system with improved ergonomic design and which allows for the simple addition of additional weights to a base dumbbell member in a compact design.
Studies have shown that exercise greatly reduces the risk of heart disease and other ailments, and also contributes to better overall health and well being. Weight lifting has been determined to be a very important part of a well balanced exercise regimen. Accordingly, people are joining health clubs and purchasing home gym equipment in order to improve their physical fitness.
Health clubs typically have several racks of non-stackable dumbbells of varying weight which range from five pounds to approximately 120 pounds in five-pound or similar increments. The racks to hold all of the dumbbells in the five-pound to 120-pound sets are typically several feet long. Because such sets of dumbbells are extremely expensive and consume a lot of space, these sets are not well designed for home use.
Dumbbells have been designed for home gym use to include a bar having a center sleeve portion which defines a handle and weight discs which are removably attached to each end of the bar by a locking collar. A problem with these prior art designs is that it is still necessary to maintain a full set of disc weights which can be placed on the ends of the dumbbell bar. Furthermore, it is time consuming to put the weights on and take the weights off from this type of dumbbell design. The locking collars are also a safety hazard if they are not properly secured in place. In addition, with the weights being disposed at each end of the dumbbell, the moment arm which is applied to a user""s wrist if the dumbbell is not maintained in a horizontal plane can result in painful stresses to the wrist joint of the user. Similar painful stresses are present with standard one-piece dumbbells.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a dumbbell system which is capable of providing several increments of weight in a compact construction.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a dumbbell system which provides equally distributed weight around the handle of the dumbbell assembly so that rotation of the handle away from a horizontal position does not result in undesirable added stresses on the user""s wrist.
These and other objects of the present invention are obtained by providing a dumbbell system including a base weight member including a ring shaped body and a handle extending across an opening in the ring shaped body. A weight ring is adapted to be removably mounted to the base weight member. A lock ring is engagable with the weight ring to securely mount the weight ring to the base weight member. The weight ring includes a first mating portion, and the lock ring includes a second mating portion which is adapted to be engaged with the first mating portion of the weight ring for securing the weight ring to the lock ring. The base weight member has an outer perimeter surface with a pair of angularly disposed edge portions while the weight ring includes an inner surface with at least one angularly disposed edge portion which engages one of the pair of angularly disposed edge portions of the base weight member. The locking ring includes an angularly disposed inner surface which engages the other of the pair of angularly disposed edge portions of the base weight member.
A series of additional weight rings are adapted to be removably mounted to one another in order to provide variable increments of weight. The base weight member as well as the additional weight rings can be nested together in a single assembly and the lock rings can be selectively engaged or disengaged from the weight rings in order to allow the user to select from a plurality of weight increments. The lock rings can be provided with a plurality of dimples on a face surface thereof in order to facilitate rotation of the lock ring relative to the corresponding weight ring so that the lock ring can be easily engaged or disengaged from the weight ring.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood however that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.